Page:The Bible of Nature, and Substance of Virtue.djvu/34

But now I'll sing, do you attend, how seed
Doth move to make, and to dissolve things made.
'Tis certain now no seed to seed adheres,
Unmov'd, and fixt; for every thing appears
Worn out and wasted by devouring years;
Still wasting, till it vanishes away,
And yet the mass of things feels no decay.
For whence those bodies part, those things grow less,
And old, and those do flourish and increase
To which they join, thence too they fly away;
So things by turns increase, by turns decay;
Like racers, bear the lamp of life and live,
And their race done, their lamp to others give:
And so the mass renews, few years deface
One kind, and straight another takes the place.
But if you think the seeds can rest and make
A change by rest, how great is the mistake!
For Nature's fixt, and steady laws decreed
That nothing should be chang'd, that nought should breed
Without a combination of the seed.
And thus without the limbs no sense can rise,
It cannot be, before the body is;
Because the seeds lie scatter'd every where,
In heaven, in earth, and water, flame, and air;
Not yet combin'd to make an animal.
Nor sense, that guide and governor of all.
But now attend, I'll teach thee something new
'Tis strange, but yet 'tis reason, and 'tis true.
E'en what we now with greatest ease receive,
Seem'd strange at first, and we could scarce believe,
And what we wonder at, as years increase,
Will seem more plain, and all our wonder cease.
For look, the heaven, the stars, the sun, and moon,
If on a sudden unto mortals shown,
Discover'd now, and never seen before,
What could have rais'd the people's wonder more?
But now, all cloy'd with these, scarce cast an eye,
Or think it worth the pains to view the sky
Wherefore, fly no opinion, 'cause 'tis new,
But strictly search, and after careful view,
Reject, if false; embrace it, if 'tis true.